Penelope.

(SIMPSON'S BAR, 1858.)

So you've kem 'yer agen,

And one answer won't do?
Well, of all the derned men
That I've struck, it is you.

O Sal! 'yer's that derned fool from Simpson's. cavortin'

round 'yer in the dew.

Kem in, ef you will

Thar,-quit! Take a cheer.

Not that; you can't fill

Them theer cushings this year,

For that cheer was my old man's, Joe Simpson, and they don't make such men about 'yer.

He was tall, was my Jack,

And as strong as a tree.
Thar's his gun on the rack,—
Jest you heft it, and see.

And you come a courtin' his widder! Lord! where can

that critter, Sal, be!

VOL. I.

I

You'd fill my Jack's place?
And a man of your size,—
With no baird to his face,

Nor a snap to his eyes,

And nary-Sho! thar! I was foolin',-I was, Joe, for sar

I'm as weak as a gal.

Sal! Don't you go, Joe,

Or I'll faint,-sure, I shall.

Sit down,-anywheer, where you like, Joe,-in that cheer, if

you choose,--Lord! where's Sal?

Plain Language from Truthful James.

(TABLE MOUNTAIN, 1870.)

WHICH I wish to remark,
And my language is plain,
That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar,

Which the same I would rise to explain.

Ah Sin was his name ;

And I shall not deny,

In regard to the same,

What that name might imply;

But his smile it was pensive and childlike,
As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye.

It was August the third,

And quite soft was the skies;

Which it might be inferred

That Ah Sin was likewise;

Yet he played it that day upon William
And me in a way I despise.

132 Plain Language from Truthful James.

Which we had a small game,

And Ah Sin took a hand:
It was Euchre. The same

He did not understand;

But he smiled as he sat by the table,

With the smile that was childlike and bland.

Yet the cards they were stocked

In a way that I grieve,
And my feelings were shocked

At the state of Nye's sleeve,

Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers,
And the same with intent to deceive.

But the hands that were played
By that heathen Chinee,
And the points that he made,

Were quite frightful to see,

Till at last he put down a right bower,
Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

Then I looked up at Nye,

And he gazed upon me;

And he rose with a sigh,

And said, "Can this be?

We are ruined by Chinese cheap labour,"-
And he went for that heathen Chinee.

In the scene that ensued

I did not take a hand,

But the floor it was strewed

Like the leaves on the strand

With the cards that Ah sin had been hiding,
In the game "he did not understand."

In his sleeves, which were long,

He had twenty-four packs, Which was coming it strong,

Yet I state but the facts;

And we found on his nails, which were taper, What is frequent in tapers,-that's wax.

Which is why I remark,

And my language is plain, That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,

The heathen Chinee is peculiar,—

Which the same I am free to maintain.